If the dietary code is seen both symbolically and as part of a system of laws that covered all the customary acts of life, it becomes apparent how it served. God was using the diet as a teaching tool. People may forget or neglect prayer, play, work, or worship, but they seldom forget a meal. By voluntarily abstaining from certain foods or by cooking them in a special way, one made a daily, personal commitment to act in one’s faith. At every meal a formal choice was made, generating quiet self-discipline. Strength comes from living such a law, vision from understanding it. Further, the law served to separate the Hebrews from their Canaanite neighbors. Each time they got hungry they were forcibly reminded of personal identity and community bond. Indeed, they belonged to a people set apart. –Old Testament CES Student Manual, Chapter 15
Several years ago, during the holiday season, I received an interesting email from our Relief Society presidency requesting that anyone who received free turkey coupons from work please donate them to the Relief Society. They needed fifteen, as soon as possible. Since we don’t eat turkey at the holidays, I began to consider asking my husband if his company did something like that.
I continued thinking to myself, “That is so nice–maybe they are donating them to the local women’s shelters. “ After all, why else would they need FIFTEEN turkeys?
But, such was not the case. No, I was surprised and aghast to find out that the Relief Society presidency wanted us to donate our free turkeys to ourselves for the annual ward holiday party. Yes, in an effort to save money and glutton ourselves, we were donating to our own insatiable appetites. Gross.
I wondered, as we did not attend the holiday party that year, if the ward members appreciated the fact that, as they were sitting down to gorge on fifteen turkeys, these same turkeys came into being through artificial insemination, as turkey have been so genetically modified and altered by the industry that they cannot reproduce unaided by technology. These turkeys have been rendered by us, unable to keep the commandment to “be fruitful and multiply.”
That caused me to consider how Babylon celebrates Thanksgiving. Babylon anticipates Thanksgiving (a day in which we are supposed to give thanks for our bounty), as an unprecedented day of absolute gluttony. Babylon breaks out the “fat pants” and eats until it cannot hold anymore. After this gluttony of the belly comes the gluttony of lust in which most of Babylon watches a combination of pornography and violence, known as “the game.” Then, more food, and preparations for the following morning, in which the majority of Babylon continues the decadence and debauchery in an unparalleled gluttony of materialism known as “Black Friday.” Instead of gratitude, we, along with Babylon, completely miss the whole point.
Is the LDS culture much different? Or any different at all? I don’t think we appear grateful to the God of Creation as we eat our turkeys produced only by means of artificial insemination, our hams raised in filth and pumped full of medications to insure that the pig survived the multiple diseases it had living in cramped, unsanitary quarters until slaughter time.
How saddened Heavenly Father must be as we eat our genetically modified absurdly colossal chicken breasts. The chicken breast is so large that the chickens are unable to support their own body weight. No matter to the consumer, though.
These chickens spend their lives in a room full of thousands of chickens, with little or no room or light. So what if the chickens we are eating as consumers never experienced freedom of movement? They couldn’t move anyway, due to their genetically oversized body parts.
Unfortunately, holiday time is not the only time our LDS culture has embraced Babylon’s “dainties.” It would appear that while we as a culture are so condescendingly proud of our abstinence from alcohol and smoking, we have still found a way to fit in with Babylon in the form of edible media and food addiction.
Sugar
The 2008 Princeton study on rats and sugar showed the following:
Hungry rats that binge on sugar provoke a surge of dopamine in their brains. After a month, the structure of the brains of these rats adapts to increased dopamine levels, showing fewer of a certain type of dopamine receptor than they used to have and more opioid receptors….Similar changes also are seen in the brains of rats on cocaine and heroin.
In experiments, the researchers have been able to induce signs of withdrawal in the lab animals by taking away their sugar supply. The rats’ brain levels of dopamine dropped and, as a result, they exhibited anxiety as a sign of withdrawal. The rats’ teeth chattered, and the creatures were unwilling to venture forth into the open arm of their maze, preferring to stay in a tunnel area. Normally rats like to explore their environment, but the rats in sugar withdrawal were too anxious to explore.
Also, sugar and heroin are refined in almost the exact same way.
The first way sugar and heroin are similar is in how they are manufactured. Heroin starts out as opium extracted from the poppy plant. Then, it’s refined into morphine and further refined into heroin. Originally it was touted as a new “non-addictive” painkiller. Now it’s simply the most addictive drug in the world… Sugar, similarly, begins as juice pressed from the sugar cane and is refined into molasses. Then, it’s further refined into brown sugar and then white sugar. The resultant white sugar crystals we’re all familiar with are completely stripped of any of their original nutrients (just like heroin).
A few years ago, Free ‘n Equal was a counselor at a youth conference. She and her group had been doing classes and activities all morning and had not eaten anything. One of the activities (inevitably), offered sugar as a reward to the “winner”. Free ‘n Equal’s group was highly motivated to participate and won the candy. The leader of the activity threw the giant bag of candy at the group, and a few of the boys literally ripped into it, as the entire group went nuts. She rushed in and took the bag and threw it in the garbage amidst their complaints and anger. She simply said:
“We are not going to have that. It’s not bringing us closer to Christ. It’s encouraging you to act like rabid animals.”
Primary classes are full of dopamine trigger rewards for classes–my daughter’s class gets rewarded with gum, my son’s class gets Skittles. The Young Women and Men are virtually lavished with chocolate, candies, and homemade brownies nearly every Sunday. It’s disgusting that we participate in the culture of Babylon in this fashion, teaching our children that the Spirit is not what we are after–just a dopamine rush. If they were able to feel the Spirit at all on Sunday, surely the dopamine confuses children into possibly thinking that dopamine rush very well could be what the Spirit feels like. Scary.
I have a very good friend who loves to make homemade sugary treats for my children when they come over. One day she made a treat and then said, “How about some maple syrup with those?”
I thought that was great, because we love maple syrup. However, she went on to explain how none of their family enjoys that ‘weird aftertaste’ of real maple syrup, plus, it’s so expensive. No, they make a tastier version, using maple flavoring, a few cups of sugar, some corn syrup and water. It’s also cheaper. I wondered how I could explain to her that we actually enjoy the real taste of real maple syrup. I often wish I could explain how that “weird aftertaste” is REAL and the “corn syrup” gives everything a “weird aftertaste.”
I remember President Benson’s wise words:
To a great extent we are physically what we eat. Most of us are acquainted with some of the prohibitions, such as no tea, coffee, tobacco, or alcohol. What need additional emphasis are the positive aspects–the need for vegetables, fruits, and grains, particularly wheat. In most cases, the closer these can be, when eaten, to their natural state– without overrefinement and processing–the healthier we will be. To a significant degree, we are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth, and lacking the energy that could be ours because we overindulge in junk foods….We need a generation of young people who, as Daniel, eat in a more healthy manner than to fare on the “king’s meat”–and whose countenances show it (see Daniel 1).
Why can’t we understand that?
Other Dangers of Babylon’s Sugary Dainties
Here are some other things to consider with regard to sugar. We had a package of Airheads candies in our home years ago. To this day, I can’t remember how a giant bag of Airheads got in our pantry, but there it was.
At first, I thought nothing of it. In fact, I thought, “Oh, well, we’ll just eat a few and have them for other kids who come over.” How foolish I was!
I noticed, as the children ate a few of these candies (remember, we hadn’t had candy in the home in years), their attitudes changed dramatically. They couldn’t stop asking for these candies, and when denied access, they seemed to find ways to sneak them. This was not normal behavior for my older children, who had voluntarily given up candy of their own free will.
Finally, I examined the bag and noticed these words printed on the bag:
Out of control.
Seems innocuous, right? Absolutely not. Words are powerful. Sugar is powerful. This candy had a mission–and it was right on the bag. It’s mission was to be “out of control.”
Our family had a long discussion about appetites and passions, and bridling them. We talked about how being “out of control” was a direct contradiction to God. We threw away the bag and the rest of Babylon’s tricky dainties. The kids, surprisingly, were the most angry at the deception. They felt that they had somehow been taken advantage of by the candy company.
And, here is a package of Skittles currently for sale in Canadian Wal-Marts:
It also comes in individual packaging:
Notice the placement of the “S” next to “EXplosion”. Sometimes people can go a little off the deep end with subliminal messages, but this doesn’t even seem subliminal to me.
The second and most dangerous part of candies is that they can prep children for tobacco and drug addiction. Hershey’s Icebreakers has tins that resemble tobacco chew containers, and from November 2007 to early 2008, they marketed “Pacs”, a powdered form of the mint that resembled heat sealed cocaine packets:
Would they have pulled them off the shelves if law enforcement hadn’t been so vocal? Probably not:
Members of Philadelphia’s police narcotics squad said the mints closely resemble tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell powdered street drugs. They said the consequences could be serious if, for example, a child familiar with the mints found a package of cocaine.
You’ve tried Tic-Tacs, Listerine Breath Strips, and flavored toothpicks? Not bad, huh? How about Camel “Sticks,” hard flavored candy-like mint flavored Camel “Orbs,” and Camel Strips, flavored with mint. Oh, and those “Sticks,” they taste sweet and in a way like licorice. The one I refuse to even unwrap is the Camel Strip. And, thank God they used “child resistant packaging,” instead of “child-proof packaging.” Little Bobby would never get a chance to enjoy this product if he was confronted with a child-proof package.
Of particular concern are new dissolvable, compressed tobacco products that come in small pellets, such as Camel Orbs. Researchers say their packaging resembles mints and the products themselves have a candy-like appearance and added flavorings that make them attractive to young children.
Meat
I am not a vegetarian. I am not a vegan. In the Word of Wisdom, the Lord’s law of health for the weakest of saints is to eat meat only in times of famine or cold. I believe that we must still eat a little meat in our day, because we are in the middle of a famine. Surrounded by Babylon’s dainties and meats, there is very little of wholesome food in our markets.
The aisles and aisles of packaged foods are virtually aisles and aisles of corn based products and bi-products. It is difficult to obtain quality produce (my first week in Utah, I went to five different grocery stores to find enough greens to feed my family for two days!), and the USDA organic label is not trustworthy. (My husband knows a cattle man who stated that the USDA will allow his whole ranch organic status as long as 10% of the cattle are organic.)
Free ‘N Equal is an Animal Science major at BYU. She has told me that she has watched movies in her classes on “industry standard” practices in raising and processing livestock. She was surprised that anyone who professed to be an active Latter-day Saint could find those industry standards acceptable.
When she expressed her opinion, she was met with general scoffing and snickering, but her professor was in agreement with her. In fact, BYU is attempting to change the way they teach livestock management to be more in line with stewardship rather than the accepted industry standard of extortion.
Says Hugh Nibley:
From the wine and olive presses we get the word “extortion,” meaning to squeeze out the last drop…
Current industry standards can only be describes as “extortion.” Doctrine and Covenants section 59 states:
And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.
In September 0f 2008, it was reported in the Wall Street Journal and other major news publications that cloned meat had entered the U.S. food supply. Cloned meat is not required to be labeled as such. Here are some things to keep in mind regarding cloned meat and epigenetic dysregulation, a problem with clones:
…means many clones — some say 90 percent — are born with deformities, enlarged umbilical cords, respiratory distress, heart and intestine problems and Large Offspring Syndrome, the latter often killing the clone and its “mother,” the surrogate dam.
…the FDA admits that clone calves that “die or are euthanized due to poor health” are rendered into animal feed byproducts that present “possible risks” to food animals and the people who eat them…
Just reading that, the word “extortion” quickly comes to mind. The people involved in cloning meat do not care about the pain or sickness of the animals–as long as they can squeeze every last drop out of them.
And, instead of requiring hygenic conditions that would prevent problems like E. coli and listeriosis, the FDA, in 2006, took the easy way out and approved a cocktail of viruses produced by a company called Intralytix to be sprayed on luncheon meat and beef before it is ground. Consumers have no way of knowing if their meat and poultry has been sprayed, as it is not labeled as such.
Our family doesn’t eat meat unless we personally know where it comes from, and are personally satisfied that it was not gotten by extortion. It makes it much harder to find meat we can consume, so we do eat much less of it.
The Joseph Smith translation of Genesis is an easy guide and show us the antithesis of Babylon’s meat gluttony:
And surely, blood shall not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands.
We raise free range organic chickens from chicks and inevitably end up with some roosters. They range all over our third of an acre backyard, and sometimes even fly next door (thank you for your patience with us, Mrs. Twitchett!)
We talked as a family about how if we allowed all the roosters to live, and never killed any of them, we would soon be overrun with fighting roosters, chicken poop, and too many chickens for our stewardship. We would not be able to live sustainably that way.
So we do take our roosters to be processed and we use the meat. In my estimation, it is a careful way of “saving our lives”. We love our roosters, as we do all of our animals. They even have names. I understand what it means to feel that the blood of those roosters will be required at my hands, and I pray that I have done the Godly thing, since we live in a temporal existence.
Most of Babylon does not act in this manner, but rather, produces more than what they need on as little land as possible, so that everyone can have filet mignon. It’s extortion.
Speaking of filet mignon, my husband and I have now decided that if we do dine out, we will only eat at restaurants in which we know the cooks and owners, and we will refrain from eating meat there if we are not certain of its source. We have decided to apply this to all food, as well. We decided this after studying Proverbs 23:
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat…Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
And Psalms 141:
Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
As we have looked at our own lives, we have discovered that, in many instances, “our God is our belly” and, as Brigham Young said:
The majority of the world of mankind would rather be damned than oppose their appetites. They feel like following them at the expense of their salvation. They do not like to be under the restriction of truth and right. They want to be where they can do what they please. They obey the law of death, and will have their reward and reap the extent of their wages; for they will have death…
I have been guilty of being in this mindset in the past. I grew up attending ward potlucks, where the majority of offerings were the “cheapest you can find” hams, bacon and green beans, brisket, etcetera. In fact, even now, many ward activities revolve around the food. And the food is more often than not a Babylonian feast, just without the alcohol.
I have stated that it is Babylonian culture we are copying. Yet, that is not entirely true. We are also guilty of copying the culture of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. (Ezekiel 16)
Or, what of this from the midrash:
Rabbi Nathaniel said: The men of Sodom…even fenced in all the trees on top above their fruit so that so that they should not be seized; not even by the bird of heaven…
The other day, my family and I were studying King Benjamin’s beautiful sermon. We, of course, read the oft-quoted verse on service, but we were all struck with a particular word:
And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
In one accord, we all looked at each other in amazement. Could it be possible that King Benjamin was not just referring to people? That we could be blessed for serving and caring for all beings, including animals? We think so.
It causes us to eschew Babylon’s tricky, deceptive, sensuous, tempting food offerings, and we have begun to understand what it means to “voluntarily abstain from certain foods and make a daily, personal commitment to act in one’s faith.”